Don’t worry, this is going to be a shorter piece of writing but an incredibly passionate one because it is, after all, a declaration of love. Alba Gu Bráth is Scottish Gaelic, and it means Scotland Forever, and if there is ever something I have felt truly, deeply, completely honestly, and without any preconceived notions, painful expectations, or distressed impositions - it is my love for this beautiful country.
I didn’t know I would fall so deeply in love. I guess no one knows. I came here because I was supposed to, wanted to, and of course because I earned myself a place at The University of Edinburgh, which I cherish. I didn’t always. I even defied it. After all, it’s where I wrote my thesis on Anarchism so it only made sense that I would also reject the authority of the institution itself. I do pride them on the Edinburgh Seven, the first seven women to ever be allowed to attend University in Britain. But back then that wasn’t enough for me.
Nothing was ever enough. I was always restless for more.
Now I understand something I didn’t understand back then. I travelled across Scotland as a young girl with my parents and saw so much. I went all the way to Inverness and the Isle of Skye. I didn’t do as much travelling within the country after I came to the city and matriculated at University as a student, and yet, even after all these years, whenever I go back to the Scottish Highlands the immediate intimacy is overwhelming.
I am overcome with the purest form of humility.
The Highlands, where I can hear, see, and almost taste, Scottish Gaelic through the mountains, lochs, castles, and winding paths is the most romantic relationship I have ever encountered. And it is only natural that I feel the desire to be intertwined in that Eternal Romance. Scottish Gaelic has become an endangered language, which is why I am trying to learn it, alongside the fact that it is utterly gorgeous. In the Highlands you can feel how powerfully and protectively the landscape, the whole atmosphere, embraces the language with love and with the hope for preservation. So wanting to be a part of that kind of love, that kind of Romance, is inevitable. And it’s not very difficult. There is cold, fresh air, and a vastness, that goes beyond those futile human emotions that hold me back: anger, rage, cynicism, anxiety, depression, mania, and whatever else, and it manages to just rush right to the very core of my being.
Those challenging emotions don’t evaporate but they come to the surface, and I am left with no choice but to confront them, and thereby force open the Gates of Love, which enable me to breathe. It is oxygen not for the lungs, but for the Soul & the Spirit.
It makes loving so easy and I love to be in love.That is why I am so in love.
Alba Gu Bráth - I’ve discovered, and will continue to discover, because my heart will never be able to leave the Highlands – it means I Love You.
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